You are not missing anything. It would have been great if it was cheap (as in dirt cheap) then young people could use the city as a recreation/career building c

You are not missing anything. It would have been great if it was cheap (as in dirt cheap) then young people could use the city as a recreation/career building center before moving to something else. Or at least that's what the city was and some cities today are. Today, it's mostly a playground for the very rich to park their money in cement because they cannot make up their mind about trusting the government.